Happy Holidays Family and Friends!We hope your year has been filled with great joy! Our year has been filled with lots of great moments, including using our annual Disneyland pass, camping amongst the Redwoods near Santa Cruz, watching my sister Libby graduate from CLU with her MA in Counseling, traveling to SD and IA to visit fabulous family and friends, discovering new wineries in Ventura County, attending lots of fantastic dinner parties, and learning new skills (like how to make soap, throw a football, learn to ski/snowboard, or knit in a circle).

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One of the more extraordinary events of the year included experiencing the Springs Fire this past May. The fire consumed 28,000 acres and burned a complete 360 degrees around our campus and housing community. It was surreal, unnerving, yet calming knowing that when we evacuated campus (and not knowing if we would return to a house) we had everything that mattered…the safety of our family and friends.

Evan is in fourth grade and his time is consumed with a lot more homework. He is doing much more reading and for the first time he found a book, which made him feel like the main character…a pretty cool discovery! Outside of school, Evan is participating in soccer, swim team, flag football, Lego league, and playing the trumpet. His all-time favorite thing to do is to have sleepovers, eat popcorn, and play Minecraft. Evan has been eager to learn how to knit (since he sees Sophie knitting all the time) and was happy to learn from Grandma Kathi when she and Terry visited this past Thanksgiving.

Sophie is in seventh grade (ahh…middle school! Where did the time go?!) and is growing into lovely young lady. She continues to be a voracious reader and is in honors English and History. I am extremely proud of Sophie, as she wasn’t originally placed in these classes, but rather she gathered her courage and asked her teacher to consider adding her to the honors English class. Before the end of the day she was switched into two honors classes. Outside of class, Sophie plays saxophone, participates in swim team and Girl Scouts (and had her first week-long, overnight Girl Scout camp this past summer).

Curtis continues to explore and expand his beer empire. He still enjoys co-hosting a weekly podcast show called Happy Hour with Joby and Curtis, where he interviews brewers, distillers, and wine makers…and, of course, tries their tasty beverages. In May, he and another friend started a new podcast series called Pints & Pairings, where they educate listeners on the tasting nuances found in beer and discuss complementary food pairings. This past fall, Curtis was asked to coordinate the judging for a local beer festival and looks forward to organizing a similar judging events in the future.

I continue to work at CSU Channel Islands and enjoy the continuous challenge of working at a ‘new’ university. This past year, I was honored to receive two distinctive awards; one from the CI students and one from the Division of Student Affairs; each denoting their appreciation of my leadership, teaching, and teamwork. In 2013, I participated in a program entitled Leadership California with 70 other women. Through this program, we learned about the critical issues facing our state and gained additional insights into the nuances associated with women’s leadership. As a bonus, I was able to meet one of my women’s leadership idols …Sally Helgesen (a rock star in the women’s leadership research J).

Over the next 12 months, we hope you check something off your ‘bucket list,’ enjoy many lingering dinners, experience the great outdoors, learn new skills, gain new knowledge, and laugh until your stomach aches. Much love to you and yours, Genevieve, Curtis, Sophia and Evan